CAT/C/BLR/CO/4
(A/HRC/17/27/Add.1, para. 250) and allegations made by several detainees, including
Andrei Sannikov and Vladimir Neklyaev, that they were subjected to torture by masked men
while in pretrial detention (arts. 2, 12 and 13).
The State party should monitor compliance with legislation that requires all law
enforcement officers on duty, including riot police (OMON), the KGB personnel, to
wear identification, provide all law enforcement officers with uniforms that include
appropriate visible identification to ensure individual accountability and protection
against acts of torture and ill-treatment, and subject law enforcement officers who
violate the Convention to investigation and punishment with appropriate penalties.
Enforced disappearances
9.
The Committee notes the information from the representatives of the State party that
a database on disappearances is maintained. Nevertheless, the Committee regrets that the
State party failed to provide sufficient information about disappearances, in particular the
following unresolved cases of disappearances: the former Minister of the Interior, Yury
Zakharenko, the former First Secretary Chairman of the dissolved Belarusian Parliament,
Viktor Gonchar and his companion Anatoly Krasovsky, and investigative television
journalist Dmitry Zavadsky, raised by the Committee in 2000 (CAT/C/SR.442, para. 29) or
submitted by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in 1999
(A/HRC/16/48) (arts. 2, 11, 12 and 16).
The State party should ensure investigation into the cases of disappeared persons with
the aim of obtaining reliable information of their whereabouts and should clarify what
happened to them. In particular, the State party should update the information about
the four cases above, inter alia, the outcome of the investigation, any punishments or
sanctions imposed on those responsible, any remedies provided for their relatives and
the degree of access to the database on disappearances permitted for their lawyers
and relatives.
Torture
10.
The Committee is deeply concerned over the numerous and consistent allegations of
widespread torture and ill-treatment of detainees in the State party. According to the
reliable information presented to the Committee, many persons deprived of their liberty are
tortured, ill-treated and threatened by law enforcement officials, especially at the moment
of apprehension and during pretrial detention. These confirm the concerns expressed by a
number of international bodies, inter alia, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Human Rights Council (resolution
17/24), the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe. While noting article 25 of the Constitution which
prohibits torture, the Committee is concerned about the substantial gap between the
legislative framework and its practical implementation (arts. 2, 4, 12 and 16).
As a matter of urgency, the State party should take immediate and effective measures
to prevent acts of torture and ill-treatment throughout the country, including by
implementing policies that would produce measurable results in the eradication of
torture and ill-treatment by State officials.
Impunity and lack of independent investigation
11.
The Committee continues to be deeply concerned about the persistent and prevailing
pattern of failure of officials to conduct prompt, impartial and full investigations into the
many allegations of torture and ill-treatment and to prosecute alleged perpetrators, the lack
of independent investigation and complaint mechanisms, the intimidation of the judiciary,
the low level of cooperation with international monitoring bodies, which have led to serious
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